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Nov/Dec 2013


2/5

byMassa

dAyoob

LESSONThe ability to ght back can be the dierencebetween horror and heroismbut the pressdoesnt want to admit it.

PRELUDEGunshots and screams echo through a quiet,classic suburban neighborhood as a cop andarmed citizen move together quickly towardthose terriying sounds. They take cover behinda big tree as they spot the suspect, a blacksemi-auto pistol in his hand. The good guys bothshout commands, but the gunmanmovingastraises his own weapon to kill them, evenas their own ngers go to their triggers

BACkGROUNDLocated just west o Akron, Ohio, the CopleyTownship has a population o just over 17,000within its 21 square miles, and a police depart-ment consisting o some 30 well-trainedocers. In the late morning hours o August 7,2011, an atrocity occurred in the quiet commu-nityproving extreme criminal violence canoccur anywhere, at any time.

Our suspect, Michael Hance had been

voted most helpul by his high school class-mates: but he was 51 now, and time changespeople. He lived with his girlriend o some20 years in a house she and her brother hadinherited rom her late ather, whom Hancehelped to nurse through a long, sad period odementia. While some neighbors ound himhelpul and courteous, others disliked him andeven eared him. Unemployed or some time,he was known to sit in his yard in a kayak andpaddle the air, and to scream violently at aneighbors child.

Hance was described as delusiothers viewed him as depressed; it wbe reported herbal remedies repreextent o his only mental health camany noticed his mental deteriorathought it serious. Never institutiolegally owned rearms. In 2005, h6-barrel Smith & Wesson ModeSteel .357 Magnum. Five days incident, he purchased a 10-shot Hautoloader rom the same pawnsho

The Johnson amily, who door, had been riends o theowner and complained to Hanhow run-down he had allowed thehouse to become. A tarp on the roground instead o a lawn and a dcar became a real eyesore.

Hance had been bitter towardsince. Craig Deiter, the brother olongtime girlriend, was concernedsituation and came up with his aKentucky to visit. On the morning ithe Dieters were next door talkingold riends, the Johnsons, wheHance snapped.

THE kILLING SPREWith six rounds o Remington seed .357 hollowpoints in his S&WHance sets out to settle his vespeedloader, lled with the same another quick-loader with sot nosrounds, rests in his pocket. He al.45 loaded with Remington jacketpoints, a spare 9-round magazisame ammunition and one moreo 230-gr. CBC hardball.

SITUATIONA NEIGHBOR HAS ESCALATED FROMSTRANGE TO FULL PSYCHO, AND ISRAMPAGING THROUGH THE NEIGHBOR-HOOD SHOOTING PEOPLE. ONLY ONE CHAS ARRIVEDAND YOU HAVE A GLOCkWITH WHICH TO BACk HIM UP.


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The murders begin in the drivewaybetween where Hance lives and theJohnson home. Hance shoots neighborRussell Johnson, 67, once in the torso andonce in the head, and pumps ve roundsinto his girlriends brother. He then chasesJohnsons wie Gudrun and shoots her rombehind three timesonce in the back andtwice through the buttocks. She alls, andhe stands over her and executes her with abullet to the back o the head.

Hance nds the Johnsons granddaugh-ter Autumn, 16, and her riend, AmeliaShambaugh, 16, in a black Saturn SUV inthe driveway and res through the windows.He kills Autumn in the ront passenger seatand Amelia in the back seat. Some witness-es describe the murderer as wielding a gunin each hand.

Hance reloads the .45 and either inten-tionally or accidentally drops the .357,which now holds two live rounds and our

red casings. Then, he roams away rom theJohnson home, looking or more victims.Also let behind in his wake, is his

longtime girlriend, Rebecca Dieter. He shother through her right arm and into her chest.

slows down as i preparing to shoot andthen realizes the neighbor is pointing a Glockpistol at him! Hance abruptly turns and runsout o the neighbors line o sight.

Sae or now, Hance looks around and seesthe young boy run into another house. He circlesthe place, looking or entry, and nally breaksin. Scotty has fed or shelter in the home oa neighboring child, DaeShawn Bagley, agenine. The boys were hidden in the basement bythe time Hance conronts DaeShawns mom,Melonie Bagley, who is trying to get her twosmaller children upstairs to saety.

Hance puts his gun to her head andsnarls, Wheres the little boy?

Melonie Bagley deantly screams,Theres no little boy! Frustrated, themurderer turns and begins to search or thechild, giving Melonie time to scoop up hertwo little ones and sprint to saety.

But Michael Hance now searches thebasement, nding Scotty behind the urnace.

Hances evil now reaches its peak: without aword, he raises his gun and shoots the littleboy in the head, killing him instantly andspattering blood all over DaeShawn as hecringes in his own hiding place. The Dieterchild will be Hances seventh murder victim.

And his last.Hance now races up the stairs, through

the door and out into the street. He hearsmale voices shouting commands at him, andhe turns to see two armed men by a treepointing guns his way. One is the neighborwith the Glock. The other is a uniormedpoliceman with an AR-15.

However belatedly, Justice has arrivedor the monster Michael Hance.

kEITH LAVERYSPERSPECTIVEKeith Lavery, 40, had stayed home that quietSunday morning to tend to his 10-year-oldson, who was sick in bed, while his wie,daughter and younger son went to church.They were blessedly spared rom the morninghorror about to unold. When he heard therst gunre and screaming, Lavery thoughtit might be a suicide, but the next volleyconvinced him otherwise.

Now a criminal justice instructor,Lavery had spent 20 years as a sworn lawenorcement oce r, beginning as an MP.As he called in to 9-1-1 to report shotsred, he raced upstairs to scoop up his sonand bring him downstairs to ground level,where he tucked him away behind a soaand told him to stay there.

Then, he ran back upstairs to the masterbedroom, where the Glock 23 his wiecarried on duty as an ocer was secured ona high shel in the closet. In the agonizingly

long seconds it took him to retriseparated magazine, insert it ipistol and rack the slide, he eltstart to go into slow motion. By the conrmed the .40-caliber pisa Hydra-Shok cartridge chambepolice training had kicked in.

Rushing downstairs, he told hisstay put behind cover, then cautioushis way out the ront door with his phpistol toward a solid ence or some cmoments, he saw a tall man running dstreet. Though he had lived in this nhood since 2005, he hadnt been acqwith the reclusive Hance. All he sawman with a black semi-auto.

As they make eye contact, Haa stutter-step, seemingly to ready to shoot. Lavery told me he didnHance noticed the gun in his hand raised the Glock and took aim ping Hance to run out o sight.

again called 9-1-1 to describe the and his approximate location.Seconds later, the rst res

patrol car pulled into Laverys viewby Copley Police Ocer Ben Cawho emerged with his Colt ARTactical Carbine patrol rife. CampLavery recognized each other immly they had worked together in twhen Lavery was still a cop.

They moved together towardLavery had last seen the suspect. Thegunre, and literally went to the sounguns,covering each other as they racautiously advanced. They were nowtree near the house where theyd hegunre, the Bagley home.

As they were moving, CampbLavery he ought to go back to hiand protect his son. Lavery reshe wasnt going to leave Campbeto deal with this monster.

At this point, Dan Gannon, aocer who lived in the neighborhowas unarmed, arrived to help. Kan unarmed man couldnt help wLavery asked him to go to his hokeep an eye on his boy. The man co

And then, Michael Hance burthe house in which he had just mlittle Scotty Dieter, his .45 in hanLavery now had a ocused crisis to de

kILLER DOWNAs the mass murderer explodview, 20 years o policing Keith Lavery a creature training and experience. Gthe ground, he roars in comvoice. Get on the ground!

She laid still and played dead as accord-ing to witnesses Michael Hance stood overher body, calmly reloading. Shell be his only

surviving victim this day.People in the neighborhood have heardthe shots and, recognizing the danger, arerunning rom him. Some, he ignores. Others,he chases and doesnt get close enough toharm them. Not everyone is so lucky. BryanJohnson, 44, the son o Russell and Gudrun,collapses in a driveway with six gunshotwounds, including a atal shot to the head.

The youngest object o the madmanshatred is Scotty Dieter, age 11. Hance ischasing the child down the street when hesees another neighbor looking at him. He

Rushing downstairs,

he told his son to stay

put behind cover, then

cautiously made his

way out the front door

with his phone and

pistol toward a solid

fence for some cover.


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thestate

o Ohio.In Septem-

ber o 2011, theprosecutors oce

publicly ruled the useo deadly orce against

Michael Hance by CopleyPolice Ocer Ben Campbell and

by Keith Lavery was justied.

The autopsy showed two HornadyTAP .223 rounds red by Ben Campbell struck Hance: one o which caught hisarm, while the other pierced his torso,striking him dead. It was later reporteda private citizen with a concealed carrypermit and a handgun on his person wasdriving through the neighborhood with hislady on a motorcycle when the shootingtook place and, when he heard the gunre,exited the scene.

In May 2012, Ben Campbells coura-geous and decisive action earned him a placeamong 34 law ocers presented the Ameri-cas TOP COPS award at the White House byPresident Barrack Obama. In March 2013, hereceived the Congressional Badge o Bravery.In April 2013, the Summit County Councilpresented commendations or bravery toOcer Campbell and to DaeShawn Bagley,the little boy who watched in horror as Hancemurdered Scotty Dietz.

No such public recognition has beengiven to Keith Lavery, or to the unarmedretired cop (and another unarmed, o-dutypoliceman) who responded to the scene.

LESSONSReading through the police reports on thisincident is a horror story and a prooundlesson is revealed: the strength o the armedtrumps the helplessness o the unarmed.There were people who locked themselvesin their home, while others ran into thenearby swamp behind the neighborhoodand climbed out o windows. There was thebrave, but helpless, mom who screamed,There is no little boy! Who can blamethem or not stopping a monster they hadno wherewithal to deeat?

Nor can I aultthe armed citizen

who unknowinglydrove into the situation,

not having any idea whatwas going on, and exited the

danger zone with the woman heloved. Most CCW instructors tell their

students to do exactly this in such cases.It was ortunate Lavery and Ocer

Campbell knew each other. An unidentiedcitizen with a visible gun approaching aresponding ocer could create a mistakenidentity issue.

We live in a nation o more than 300million citizens policed by some 800,000cops, who work 40 hours o a 168-hourweek o course not counting time spentin court, training or while away on leave. Totheir credit, the Copley Township Police gotthere quickly.

According to the ocial report, the rst

9-1-1 call came in at 10:55:57 a.m. Policewere dispatched to the scene at 10:57:11.Laverys rst call came in at 11:00:19 a.m.,describing what are now believed the shots atRebecca Dieter. Campbell reported on-scene inthe neighborhood at 11:00:37. Laverys secondencounter ater he drove the killer away atgunpoint was phoned in at 11:01:01. And, at11:05:21 a.m., Ben Campbell radioed in thesuspect was down.

Yes, this is how ast these things happen.The cops got there 21/2 minutes ater thedispatcher picked up on the rst call anexcellent response time. But, it was still toolate to save the victims.

OTHER LESSONSI a crazy neighbor hates you, it might bea good idea to carry a gun on your personand be ready to instantly respond i heacts out homicidally. A reconstruction othe crime scene shows the running Hancewas 49 to 58 eet away rom Campbelland Lavery when they ired on him; noeasy target.

Campbell, with an AR-15, hit him twoout o three shots and dropped him, whileLavery did not score a hit. Does this provide

a rationale or good guys to have AR-15smaybe? Lavery was point-shooting instead oprecisely aiming at a ast-moving man over50 eet away a lesson there, too.

Dont ignore crazy people. Many whosaw Hances aberrant behavior did nothingabout it. He wound up murdering sevenpeople, including three innocent children.

Have your gun ready to go, whereyou can reach it switly. How many oHances victims might have survived ithey had done so?

He isa w a r eOcer BenC a m p b e l l ,beside him,is shoutingsomething similar.But instead oobeying the commands,the running man swings hispistol up, aiming it towardthem and it seemed toLaverytoward him in particular.

Lavery res without a sightpicture, opting or point shooting.In his mind, he thinks he red twice,though in actuality it was three times.He hears a very loud crack to his sideand realizes Campbell has triggered his.223, though he doesnt realize the ocerhas also red three shots. Hance keepsrunning, and or an instant, it seems to

each o the good guys as i Hance hasntbeen hit, but then he pitches to the groundand lies still.

Their guns still up and covering thethreat, Lavery and Campbell cautiouslyapproach. The black Hi-Point pistol haswound up in the armpit o the gunmanscrumpled body, not in-hand. Careully,Lavery passes his Glock to Campbell andswaps or the ocers handcus, and movesin to secure the suspect. There is no resis-tance as he clamps the bracelets on.

In the emotion o the moment, Laverysnaps, Why did you do it?! He hearsCampbell utter something sim ilar. But thereis no response. He sees Michael Hanceslabored breathing cease. The mans eyesappear to glaze over and Lavery knows heis watching the monster die.

There are sirens in the distance,coming closer. From the volume othe gunre, neither man can be surethis murderer was the only predator.Campbell hands the Glock back to Lavery,who careully circles the outside o thehouse to make sure there are no moreperpetrators in sight. Backup ocers arearriving now. The scene is pandemoni-

um. One o the rst responding backupsenters the house, and discovers the bloodycorpse o little Scotty Dieter.

In the ollowing hectic moments,one uniormed lawman asks Keith Laverywhat hes doing there and then tells himto get out o the crime scene. Its a sign othings to come.

AFTERMATHIt was later said Hances rampage wasthe worst mass murder to take place in

Finally,remember

in the political-ly correct world o

American politics andmedia, heroism may go

ignored. Ben Campbelldeserved every award

he received; he is one oa growing list o cops who

saved lives by riding alone

to the sound o the guns andnot waiting or backup.

But, in a world smart enough torecognize Campbells courage, how

can our society be oolish enough toignore the courage o armed citizens

like Keith Lavery? Or the unarmedretired cop Dan Gannon, who still went

toward the threat instead o away romit on this terrible day in Copley?

G. Gordon Liddy once wrote currentcops talk about retired lawmen in the past

tense,as ithey weredead. KeithLavery, who rst

used a Glock to drivethe wol back rom thebunny it was chasing, puthimsel back in the line o re toend the threat to his neighborhood.The act he was then promptly ignoredand marginalized in the atermath says alot. I it was because he was merely an armedcitizen no longer an active police ocer then the ailure to recognize his contribution isnothing short o disgraceul.


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